Reaching Out

Connecting with other holistic fruit growers rocks. Immediate feedback comes by way of the computer screen. Regional networks offer the opportunity for community orchardists to meet face-to-face. Conferences can be game changers. Simply put, more tree friends are a boon in this life.

Web Discussion Groups

Holistic Orchard Network engages whole system thinkers in focused discussion. Our portal pages point the way to a broad range of forum categories where insights can be added over successive growing seasons. Most participants grow fruit to make a living. Other orchardists who have not yet become members are certainly invited to learn from the conversation.

Organic Fruit Growers Association   This trade alliance centered in the Upper Midwest gives organic fruit growers a voice in national policy. A member list serve explores the gamut of challenges that come up in orcharding. Experienced growers are involved here as well as folks initiating a community orchard effort.

North American Fruit Explorers   The original round-robin network! Many avid fruit growers will tackle questions about all sorts of fruits, from pawpaws to gobi berries. Anyone may participate in web discussions by registering here.

Home Orchard Society Forum   This Oregon-based network of home orchardists encourages all manner of fruit growing questions. 

Growing Fruit Forum centers around an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) perspective for growing  backyard fruit.

Grow Organic Apples
on social media

Upcoming Events

HINT: Contact information about these happenings can be found on the events page within our portal.

Bioregional Meetings

The Berkshire Roundtable for community orchardists is held every March in New England. The Organic Fruit Growers Association organizes summer tours of member orchards in the Upper Midwest. If others are hosting farmer-to-farmer exchanges like this elsewhere, please let us know so we can help spread the word.

March 2 & 3, 2022: Berkshire Roundtable

 Please see the registration flyer to get a better sense of this gathering, cost, and directions.

A scruffy lot of apple growers if ever there were!
This gang made up the 2008 Berkshire Roundtable.

Holistic Insight #29a  Post-harvest application
of humus-rich compost helps decompose
fallen leaves where apple scab pseudothecia
(spore sacs) will lie in wait till spring rains.

Let's Hear it for our Advisory Board!

Our 'organizational prowess' takes the form of a grower advisory board. These dedicated members have agreed to provide occasional feedback to Michael in determining network priorities and overseeing financial accounting. A broad regional perspective on this board helps us forge ties with other efforts going on across America and indeed the world. 

• Mike Biltonen, New York
• Todd Parlo, Vermont
• Brian Caldwell, New York
• Neil Collins, California
• Linda Hoffman, Massachusetts
• Dan Kelly, Missouri
• David Doncaster, British Columbia
• Brittany Kordick, North Carolina
• Liz Griffith, Wisconsin
• Gordon Tooley, New Mexico
• Don Kretschmann, Pennsylvania
• Michael Potts, California

Contact Headquarters

We invite queries about these efforts to promote healthy approaches to growing fruit. Be those questions about member listings or submitting a grower profile,  sponsoring this network or sharing pertinent research, newsletter suggestions or even crazy ass notions to further the cause. Our primary mission is to encourage community orchardists and home orchardists alike to do better by the trees. We need to build upon local food systems to thereby be able to enjoy that one good apple for many generations to come.